Many Travels
by SaltwaterJanuary
Summary: A collection of different "travel stories" I thought of doing. Characters and (of course) travels vary.
1. Campfire

_Many Travels:_

 _Campfire_

"Hey, Blaze?"

The sounds of the crackling fire continued without interruption.

"Blaze…"

The crickets around them chirped in ignorance of the two campers.

"Blaze, you there?"

An owl hooted nearby. It sent chills up Silver's spine, seeing how intently she was staring into the firelight- as she stood over it. How focused on the flames she was, and how ignorant of the rest of the world.

"Blaze, are you okay?"

With a small startled sound, she looked over at him and answered," What, what is it?"

"Oh," he rubbed the back of his quills. "You just seemed so lost."

"I wasn't lost. I knew very well where I was."

"And where were you?"

"Back home in my palace. Long ago. The first time I remember seeing a flame dance on the candlestick as my mother lead me to my room. I must've been frightened, but I remember feeling calmed as I gazed up at her, watching the light flicker in her eyes."

Silver watched her with wide eyes. "Wow. That- that's a vivid memory. You must be a really good storyteller."

"I told you. I knew where I was. I just described what I saw there. "

"Oh. You make it sound easy!"

She watched the fire again, but not finding herself there in the palace anymore. "It's not that hard. Only if you make it that way." She turned her head to look at him. He saw the flames flickering in her eyes, and felt the calm she had felt years ago. "Where were you, Silver?"

"When?"

"Just now. As I was in the palace."

He closed his eyes, placing his hands on his knees and taking a deep breath of smoky air.

"I was sitting here on this log, watching you with curiosity and worry, and calling your attention as the night sounds resounded."

"That was nicely done, for a beginner."

He puffed out his fluffy chest. "I know."

They laughed a bit awkwardly at one another, but didn't acknowledge the fact that they were both feeling the same.

"I-I'm glad that you came here…with me," Silver breathed out at once.

She nodded slightly. "Yes. I'm glad that I came with you as well."

"Really?"

"Yes."

She glanced up at the placement of the stars and moon. "It is getting late."

"Yeah…but wait a minute. We haven't had marshmallows yet."

"I don't care for any, but you may have some."

"Well, thanks, Blaze. But I don't want to eat them if you aren't-"

"I'm fine. Go ahead."

"Alright…" he opened the bag with caution, as if expecting an explosion. Instead the marshmallows tumbled out onto the log and the grass. "Oops."

Blaze reached down and returned them to the log. "Here."

Silver nodded his thanks and picked a cleaner marshmallow.

"Do you have a stick?"

"No, I kinda forgot that part…"

"Here." Blaze took it in her hand. "Do you like it burnt?"

"Usually."

She lit her palm and the marshmallow with it, and just as suddenly she extinguished the flame, holding it out for him to blow off.

He did so, and took it with a smile. "Thank you."

She nodded in response.

A few minutes passed, and when they figured they had nothing else to do, Blaze headed for her tent.

"I'm going to sleep now. Good night, Silver."

"Good night, then."

For a few moments after her entry, he sat there and gazed at the stars.

The noises around continued around him in orchestra, but he didn't hear a thing.

He seemed to be lost in thought, but really he knew where he was.

He was out in the stars. Walking, flying among them. Staring down at that small campsite and watching over Blaze in her sleep, making sure that nothing would harm her.

He wished on a shooting star that nothing ever would.


	2. Archaeology

Many Travels:

Archaeology

" _Wow_." He breathed, his voice nearly shaking.

The towering, but incomplete, structures around were painted and carved with multiple colors, making them stand out even more among the small pines surrounding. The structures, altogether, made up what looked to be a large pavillion, as the tops came together many, many feet above. Or, all the tops would come together. As it was, some of the tops did not meet up, as they never were built to the length of the others. The inside of the structures were just as carved, just as painted, as the outside was, except easier to view as it was at eye level.

As they walked towards the center, looking up at the incomplete ceiling, and around at the colorful walls, both of them were filled with a sense of awe.

Except one of them felt awe much more strongly than the other.

"I just...I can't believe it. To think that the other day I had no idea this existed in echidna civilization."

"Well, not to burst your bubble, but my life is no different because of it."

"Shush, Rouge." As he got into the center, he closed his eyes and just listened to the sounds of nature bouncing off of the walls, sort of like an amphitheater because of the missing top. "Just, be quiet a minute."

Rouge rolled her eyes and took a look around the place, not stopping to admire the paintings. The structure itself did not hold much beauty to her, even though its size impressed her. She was more concerned with what it _could_ hold. Looking down at the ground beneath her, she saw that the soil was covered in moss, but still damp from the past night's rain. It was not going to be hard to dig through it, perhaps finding something valuable under the surface. She licked her glossy lips in anticipation of what could be.

The sound of Knuckles whistling softly made her lose focus for a moment, turning to look at the echidna. His eyes were still closed, his arms were still by his sides, he seemed to be focused solely on listening, on whistling back some strange melody to the sky.

It was all very strange to her, and made her somewhat uncomfortable. She tried to shift focus back to her _real_ purpose for being there.

Looking back down at the ground, she tried to tune her senses to look for anything valuable beneath the surface. At first, she couldn't detect anything different, and for a moment she wondered if she should just dig around and hope she got lucky. Until it happened that she _did_ feel that there were several items, buried a few feet away, towards the farthest corner of that place. She went straight over to it and started digging.

Knuckles, meanwhile, had moved from the center of the structures to the left wall, looking at the paintings and carvings with a mixture of sorrow and pride. "It's still hard to believe I hadn't found this place until today…" he muttered to himself. He was about to call over Rouge to have her take a look at the walls, see what she thought, before he realized that he would rather have a moment in silence to look at it himself. Besides, one glance at her told him that she was much too busy with her own personal agenda rather than his own.

The walls seemed to tell the story of a small tribe of echidnas that were at war amongst themselves.

"Chief Amaecon, how many times are we going to argue about this before you will listen?"

"As long as it takes for you to understand that _I_ am the leader. I am the one that makes the decisions for us all. And I know what's best."

"Yes, but even then, the leader must listen to those he is leading. He must take into consideration what they suggest, too. Isn't caring about those things what marks a good leader?"

"Yes. I _have_ thought and considered it already. I've already determined that it's not going to work. Thank you for the idea, Gregire. You may go."

"...but maybe you haven't considered that if we don't split the wealth among the people, too, then it makes it dangerous for all of us if something happens to the leader, or if the people disagree with the leader of its use?"

"I think what you are really doing is doubting my leadership."

"No, I don't mean that, I just mean for the best of us-"

"For the best of yourself." Chief Amaecon gave him a stern look, that seemed to pierce into his heart. "See, I know that if control of the wealth goes to the people, they will only become greedy and power thirsty. You are dismissed, Gregire."

With nothing left to convince Amaecon, Gregire left the leader's presence.

In the next night, below the pale waning moon, Gregire gathered some of those closest to him to discuss a course of action.

"I have a very bad feeling about it. If Chief Amaecon becomes too arrogant, if he becomes impatient with us...it's just becoming too tyrannical. We could be overtaken."

"Then what do you suggest we do?"

"I suggest that...there is only one thing left to do. We must separate from the rest of the tribe. Though, I do hate to say it."

Whispers spread around the small circle for awhile, until several moments later everything fell silent. Everyone there had came to the same conclusion, but no one dared to say it aloud. They were going to have to split, and do it silently.

That night, they gathered up what they had, and they left.

Many years passed, and they had settled into a small area of land, in the midst of a forest, where they hoped they would not be found. Over the years they developed their own way of life, making use of the forest around them. Over the years, they created their own stories, songs, and chants. Over the years, their small tribe of echidnas grew into a much larger one, and they taught their children what they had been through,and what they had created out of it.

In the center of their village, they began to build a pavilion- a place where they could come together harmoniously and gather.

But it never was completed, and the harmony did not last.

One day the tribe that they had left discovered, miles off, the structure that they were building, as it stood higher above the rest of the little village. The leader, Amaecon, did not like to see that those that had opposed him were prospering so well. And so he sent in his own tribe, destroying most of what they had built, and those who were not killed were forced to either flee and wander alone, or to surrender and return to their original tribe.

Many chose to flee and wander alone.

"Hey, Knuckie~" A voice called, ending the trance that the walls had put him in.

"Yeah, Rouge? What is it?" Knuckles answered, impatient.

"Look what I found," she sang.

He turned and saw that she had unearthed several things- most of them shiny, despite the dirt that covered them. There were a few gems, it seemed. Small, slightly shining red and gold pieces that fit easily into the palm of Rouge's hand- where she was determined to keep them. There were also a few less shiny things, like some sort of rod, some carved stones, and some whistle instrument.

For once, Knuckles was somewhat pleased with Rouge's treasure hunting skills. Though he would only give her half the credit, since he did find the area in the first place.

"Wow. You- you actually did pretty well."

"I know, thank you. While you were over there getting lost in the walls, I got straight to business."

"But, Rouge, that was not my purpose of being here in the first place." He walked over to the place that she was and looked at the carved stones, seeing that it was some kind of song that was written. It must have been their song. " _This_ was my purpose for being here."

"Sure, whatever," she waved a dismissive hand at him, the one that was not occupied with the gemstones. "As long as I get to keep _these_ I'll be fine."

Knuckles looked up from the stone abruptly. "You can't keep them. They belong to the tribe that once resided here. That was probably the only wealth they ever could find."

"So?" She turned an oblivious ear in puzzlement. "They're all gone now, anyways!"

"Yes, but you can't just rob a dead man's grave!" He gave her a look that let her know he was not going to drop the matter.

She knew she wasn't getting anywhere this time. Her ears drooped noticeably. "...I don't see any graves around h-"

"Rouge."

She dropped the gemstones and walked away from them angrily. "Fine. Have it your way, but there's no reason for me to stick around now. See ya!" With that, she began flapping her velvety wings and took off through the incomplete roof of the structures.

He was going to shout after her, but realized that she might as well go anyway. He buried the items back, patting the moss back down to make it blend back in with the ground.

With a sigh, he stood up and looked up at the sky through the center. "Well, if only you had some interest in history and archaeology. You might understand then."

He walked out from the unfinished pavilion and with a final, low whistle he glided away.


	3. Lost

Many Travels:

Lost

They were somewhere. Somewhere between trail AB and AD. Or perhaps they were nowhere near that at all.

Charmy was enjoying the moment immensely compared to his partners, flying around and looking wide-eyed for the next trail markings, always telling the other two that," We're almost there, I think. I _think_ we're almost there."

Espio and Vector were not much happier with the comment.

Espio held the map and tried to find something- really anything- that resembled the markings and figures on the map, but no matter how hard he stretched the truth of what he was seeing, nothing really looked similar at all. Just a whole lot of trees and plants, and not much of anything else.

Vector was trying to get some sort of signal on his device, but of course, they were out in nature. Nature would not provide signals for his benefit, and he knew this. But he kept trying regardless.

"Guys, this really isn't so bad. Just think, maybe we'll find something no one's ever found before!" Charmy insisted. It was quite obvious to his partners that his outlook on the whole thing was a very positive one. At this point Vector began to wonder if Charmy would consider getting stranded boatless in the river "fun" and "exciting".

"The chances of that are very unlikely, but alright. I'm just trying to figure out what idiot designed this park and its maps. Naming a trail by letters is very confusing, and not having brightly-colored markings every half mile or so is even worse. It's like that time we tried to put that drawer together, none of the instructions are clear enough."

"Hmph, that was one heck of a drawer, though. I hope we never have to buy another one," Vector muttered.

"But that's besides the point. Charmy, you might think it's fun now, but it will be quite dangerous if we're still lost out here when the sun goes down. As our tracker, I suggest you look harder," Espio explained. "Besides, you were supposed to be the one to help us stay on track in the first place."

"I know, I know. We'll get outta here by sundown!" Charmy exclaimed."But just look at how beautiful this forest is!"

"Yes, I know. But that is not our main concern. We're trying to survive."

Sure enough, the forest _was_ a beautiful place. The setting light of the sun made the dark trees look mystical and strangely serene. The songs of the evening doves surrounded the forest and made direction seem even more distant and lost. Maybe they _were_ even more lost than before. And that's why Espio could not focus on the scenery.

HIs sense of urgency was only pushed farther by the position of the sun.

He gave a slightly worried look to Vector, but the crocodile never saw it as he was too busy with his pointless device.

"Does anyone remember if we were facing the sun earlier?" Espio tried.

But nobody replied, and he supposed that was his answer. "How could I not have been paying attention?" He wondered to himself. But he realized that it had an obvious answer, too.

"Charmy."

"Yeah?" The bee was distracted momentarily, pausing to watch a squirrel scramble up into a tree. If Espio had not been watching, they might have accidentally left him behind there.

"Do you have a lead yet?"

"No...do you?"

Espio stopped himself from facepalming in favor of moving on. "Come on, let's just stop getting distracted."

Charmy moved on, but his mind still wandered.

As they continued to walk along the trail, Espio began to realize that the trails that they were taking were continually becoming less defined then when they had started. He began to wonder if anyone had been down them in a long while. The forest seemed to have become increasingly thick and less transparent- it nearly hid the light of the sunset. It seemed rather eerie.

"You think we wandered into some abandoned trails or somethin'?" Vector asked quietly. He had put his device away in favor of looking for a trail marking by then.

"I...hope not." Espio tried to look up at the sky, but it was covered in dark leaves. "We need to start using something to mark where we've already been."

"Well, if it makes things any better, I think the last two turns we took were right," Charmy interjected.

"They obviously weren't right," Vector mumbled.

"No, I mean the directional right."

"I knew what you meant," Vector snapped.

"Well, we should probably head back the way we came. Come on now," Espio advised.

They took their few turns back, but could not remember which path they had taken afterwards, thus they ended up with their blind guess.

Thus Espio began to question if they would ever get back to their van.

The crickets were softly beginning to chirp, a steady reminder that sunset would not last forever. The birds that used to be flying around suddenly looked an awful lot like bats. Vector and Espio exchanged worried glances.

"You guys, don't be so nervous! It'll be alright!" Charmy exclaimed.

"We can't be too sure of that, Charmy. You may not have experience being out, lost, at night, but I do. I know it's not as exciting as it sounds," Espio said, guarding himself closely. He was beginning to feel more paranoid about it by the second.

Vector shushed him suddenly, and he seemed to give Espio the inevitable warning glance. "I-I thought I heard somethin', but maybe it was just the wind…"

"Stop it, Vector," Charmy laughed. "You're just trying to make it worse."

"No, I"m really not. I really thought I heard somethin'."

"What? What did it sound like?" Espio whispered.

"Oh, y'know, what everything sounds like in the woods. The leaves were shaking real hard," the crocodile replied, still staring out into that direction like some kind of distracted dog.

The leaves rustled again, and this time they all heard it.

Espio drew nearer to his companions, preparing his shruiiken at his side should he have to use it. As if they could not defend themselves.

Whatever had caused the noise, it did not happen again for a long while. It felt strangely anti-climatic- the opposite of what it felt like should've happened. Not that they weren't grateful that nothing became of it.

"I guess we should go back to that one trailhead. This doesn't seem like the right way, anyway," Espio stated, still in the sort of whisper he had used before. He didn't want whatever it was to come any closer.

"Yeah...quietly," Vector added, shooting an annoyed look at Charmy.

"What? What's that have to do with me?" was the bee's only response.

Vector shook his head and chose to ignore this.

They got back to the previous fork in the road, not speaking a word the entire time. They chose a different path, hoping this one would finally take them back to their (probably now overheated) van.

By now the sun was in its boldened form- the way it emphasizes itself during the last moments it spends on the horizon. The colors of the sunset were magnified, more like a fire than simply a light in the sky.

"Alright, I'm going to admit it," Espio breathed. "I'm really getting worried now."

"We all knew it, Espio," Vector replied. He was beginning to look very defeated himself. "I wish I had the kid's enthusiasm."

As soon as they had gotten to a place where "the coast was clear", Charmy had immediately resumed his positivity, flying around and sing-songing like nothing had happened. Like they weren't totally lost in a forest.

"We'd all be dead if we had that kid's positivity, Vector," Espio responded, quietly laughing. At least now he was so worried that he was beginning to find things funny.

The two reptiles walked alongside each other, Espio being the most cautious to keep an eye on Charmy. Vector was busy with his own issues, watching for something that resembled familiar.

Then they heard what sounded like a river, a river that they knew they had not heard before, and both of them realized that they would be spending all night in the forest. It was a horrible realization, but all at once somewhat relieving. They wouldn't have to question it anymore, just prepare.

Vector decided to break the news. "Well, Charmy, I think we better just get back to that fork in the road, and, y'know...prepare for the night. It's getting pointless to keep on moving now. I know that it's gonna be hard, but-"

"No, wait, don't go back yet! I hear a river up ahead, and maybe we can get a good view!" He exclaimed, zooming forward to see it himself.

Espio and Vector followed after him, too weary to argue with him.

"I hope it's not too dangerous at this hour to be near the river. I mean, most animals wait until evening to go near the rivers…" Espio muttered.

Vector prodded him in the side with his elbow. "Eh, don't worry. They'll hear him coming a mile away."

"True." He realized how strange it was that they were so calm about the whole ordeal. Apparently they adapted quite well. There was no use panicking now anyway. In his mind, he began thinking of all the ways that they could prepare for it, but unfortunately most of the ways he remembered required material things. Unfortunate.

They found the small river- really more of a creek- in a place where the trees were sparser, and the area was much more open. They could actually see the sky now, a lot clearer, and there obviously wasn't much time to nightfall. No use in worrying about it now, Espio reminded himself.

Charmy stopped flying around and sat down on the mossy ground. He looked out of place, sitting still all of a sudden, but it was a welcome sight anyway. He seemed to be watching the sky. The other two didn't interrupt him, even though it was a big waste of time. It would have been a bigger waste of energy to tell him. So, they just stood there. And it was strangely serene; lost out in the woods at night, but still staring up at the sky like time didn't matter. Espio looked over to see if Vector was thinking the same, but he didn't look his way.

At last, it was Vector who decided to break the moment. "Charmy, we really gotta go now. We need to find our way back to the fork before it's too late."

Charmy turned his head to him, and mumbled something about, "Ok, one minute." He stayed there for a moment though, as Vector and Espio turned to leave, trying to urge the bee to hurry. He gave the sky a last look, at the darkened reds and oranges, and somehow, in someway, it reminded him that there were snacks back in their van. And it was then he realized he was hungry.

"Espio, Vector…"

By the tone of his voice, they both instinctively looked over at him and expected trouble.

Though now hovering in the air, he mimicked the motion of scuffing his shoe in the dirt. "I think I know which way we should go…"

Vector folded his arms. "Ya mean to the van?"

"Yeah…"

"And why didn't you tell us this before?!"

"Well, I-um...it was fun being 'lost', dont'cha think?"

"No," Vector growled. "But let's get goin'."

They headed off that way, lead by Charmy, who suddenly lost his "guilty act" and laughed.

Espio eyed him suspiciously. "Charmy, you knew all along and just worried us for the sake of 'fun'?"

"Well...sorta." His antennae went down, resuming the act. "I mean, I was always going to tell you eventually. I-"

Espio hushed him before he could continue. "I get it, I get it. But that doesn't mean I'm excusing it, Charmy. We'll talk about this in the van."

"Oh, okay, Espio," Charmy replied, trying not to laugh again at his own prank.

Espio rolled his eyes at the young detective...but at least now he knew that they wouldn't be camping tentless that night. He was grateful for that.


	4. Sailing

Many Travels:

Sailing

The strong gusts of wind, the waves and the horizon were the only things that were really real. Everything else was in another world now, a world far, far off. None of it mattered.

He had finally gotten the boat in course, the sails adjusted, the lines fixed up. And, just for a moment, he could breathe in the ocean air and forget about the rest.

"What do you think, Ray?" He muttered at last.

Ray couldn't hear him over the sound of the waves, so Mighty had to reiterate himself.

"It's all clear sailing, as far as I can see!" He eventually replied, balancing himself on top of the sail mast, looking out at the endless blue as far as he could possibly see.

"Good!" Mighty said. "But that's not what I meant! What do you think of sailing, Ray?"

"Oh, it's great out here!"

Mighty smiled and turned back to look into the waters again. The boat had the same continuous motion- the slight, side-to-side sort of movement that made everything seem sleepy and peaceful at the same time. It moved along the ocean at a rather slow, unhurried rate, but Mighty didn't mind that. There was no rush to get back to land, according to the skies' foretelling.

"How long do you think we'll be out here?" Ray asked. He was becoming used to shouting by now, which was definitely not the usual way of speaking for him.

"That depends! How long do you want to be out here? I mean, I was planning to stay out...maybe overnight? But what do you think?"

"Ooh, I don't know about being out here overnight…How about until evening maybe?"

"That's fine! I'll just have to find a way to steer us around a bit earlier."

"Where are we heading back to?"

"Hopefully that place a little bit east of that one island? You remember that place?"

"I think so."

"Yeah."

Mighty lied down at the front, flat on his shell, and looked up at the blue above.

And he thought about water and its relationship to the sky; how water absorbs into the clouds, and then the clouds return the water back down to the earth, to the oceans. How the cycle could go on and on and on, and no one would know which way it began in the first place. Did the water originally belong to the surface, or did it all belong to the clouds from the start? He thought about how it was such a beautiful relationship- that the sky and the earth could share so peacefully in something. Like a favor that was always returned. And they were so cheerful about it. It brought a serene smile to his face, to think that something like that could even exist. That everything worked out in nature so well. Despite the fact that nature could do terrible things, here it was doing beautiful things, too. And he could see it, and feel it, the ways that it-

"Hey, Mighty," Ray's voice spoke up. "When we get to the islands, can we go to that one place?"

"Oh, sure. You mean the place we visited last time?"

"Yeah."

"Sure, that's a great idea."

He couldn't exactly remember the direction his thoughts were going in anymore, so he tried to get lost thinking about something else.

The birds that sometimes flapped by were pretty. Maybe not in a physical way, but just...in their simplicity. They didn't need beautiful colors or anything like that, all they needed to do was fish and they were happy. It must have been nice- knowing their purpose so clearly. Just living each day, out on the winds, and just knowing that-

"Is- is it alright if we get those fruits from that one place like we did last time?"

"Sure, Ray," Mighty sighed.

"Oh, sorry. I don't mean to bother you or anything. I was just wondering and-"

"I know you don't mean to bother me," Mighty gave a reassuring smile up in his direction to prove it. "I'm just thinking is all. But you can ask if you need to."

"Okay, sorry."

"It's fine."

Clouds, themselves, were so fascinating besides the water. Just drifting, drifting, drifting on. Endlessly. He wondered if it would be amazing or exhausting to live like that. Then again, it wasn't like him to stay in one place for too long, either. Like the clouds, he had to drift somewhere to really-

"Mighty." The tone of Ray's voice startled him this time.

"What is it, buddy?" He sat up, turning to face the little flying squirrel that was still balancing on the mast.

"There's something over there!" Ray said, climbing down from the mast frantically.

"Shush, it's alright. It's probably just another boat, Ray. The ocean isn't just for us." He stood up and tried to look out as far as he could, but could only manage to see a small black dot moving on the water, far, far off. But moving quickly. "It might not even be in our path of travel, Ray."

"But it has a flag!" Ray squeaked, rocking the boat trying to peer over the edge. "I mean, not just a normal flag...it's a crossbones flag!"

"How did you manage to see that?"

"It's easier to see from higher up. But, Mighty, Mighty, what are we going to do?"

"Alright, first off, take a deep breath. Don't just assume the worst here, it could be many other things...Let's wait and see when it gets closer." He pressed the edge of his hand up against his forehead, trying to give his eyes shade. He soon realized that the ship was approaching at a pace that made it pointless to even try to see it from afar. Not when they would be seeing it up close so soon.

Sure enough, a large, dark gray ship was coming up out of nowhere, a crossbones on its sail. It didn't seem to be directly in their path, but it was close enough by it to cause alarm. If the ship didn't hit their sailboat over, the wake caused by it would surely do that.

It was a very rapid change from the peaceful sailing a moment ago.

"Mighty, what should we do?" Ray asked, now nervously pacing the floors.

"Hold on, hold on...I'll think of something," Mighty reassured. As best he could at least. "Why don't you glide over there and see if they seem like the...uncooperative type?"

"Well, they sure seem like it from out here!" Ray exclaimed.

"Yes, but we can't presume...besides, we need to know what we might be facing here. Please, Ray, just glide over it and see what's going on, okay? Hurry."

Ray eventually nodded, hoping that he would be small enough to go unnoticed by the ship's captain. He glided up on the winds, looking out carefully as he approached the mass.

As soon as he got over it, he saw that the entire inside of the ship was just a big empty deck, no crew or any forms of life around. Whoever was controlling it must have been in the captain's quarters. The not-so-great part of that, was that the ship itself was built exactly like some sort of pirate's ship. Which wouldn't be the most comforting thing to report back.

He rushed back to the sailboat, accidentally rocking the boat hard upon landing.

"I-I didn't see a crew or anything...no one at all, actually. But- but why is someone boating all the way out here, towards us, by themselves?" Ray panted.

"I'm not sure," Mighty sighed. He wished that at least half of the world could be as peaceful as he would have liked to be.

But he needed to come up with a plan quick, for Ray's sake. Forget wishful thinking for a moment. Stay calm.

"Alright, why don't we-"

Before he could get the words out, another voice interrupted.

"Ahoy, mates!"

"Who- who is it?" Mighty shouted back. He was surprised at the friendliness of the captain's voice...and the younger tone that they had.

"It's the great Cap'n Marine here, ya bloke. You never heard a' me?"

By now the boat had come up close by them, though thankfully it had turned far enough away to avoid too much of a wake for them. Though, they still held onto the mast for all it was worth.

"I...can't say I have." Mighty's ears drooped a bit at the disruption. But, hey, at least they seemed friendly and weren't trying to rob anyone.

"Well, ya heard a' me today! Ya look like ya got a pretty scrawny ship there, do ya think ya need some help gettin' in to shore?" By now, the 'captain' had made an appearance on her deck, peering out at them from the side. She was this young, orange-and-brown raccoon, and Mighty was not too sure that she was even supposed to be out on the ocean by herself. Apparently she was anchored already. It was then that Mighty took the opportunity to anchor his own boat before the wake pushed them yards away.

"No thank you, miss. Our 'scrawny' ship is doing just fine. Thank you for asking though. I think I've got it." Mighty nodded as sincerely as he could as he finished heaving the anchor in. Hopefully that sort of gesture would get across to this 'captain' Marine.

"Ya, whatever you say! What are ya both doin' out in this blue, anyway?"

"Um...well, we were just sailing peacefully and-"

"That _is_ a really cool ship…" Ray's voice spoke up sheepishly. Apparently he wasn't so skittish anymore.

Mighty supposed he had been thinking about the boat the whole time, and had just now gotten over his shyness and said so. He tended to speak up very slowly like that, often when the subject was already changed. Only Mighty really knew what the little flying squirrel was truly like when nobody else was around.

"I know! Ain't she a beaut? I built her all by myself!" They couldn't see much of her body, but Mighty was pretty sure that she had pointed to herself proudly while saying this.

He could tell that she was a liar, and pretty much a show-off right away. He didn't like the feeling that she carried with her at all. He looked at Ray to see if he was picking up on this, but it seemed Ray was much too busy being fascinated by the boat to notice.

Ray had a tendency to do that- and for a minute Mighty was trying to think of a way to get him to get back to his...usual quiet ways. Because there was no stopping him if he did start taking an interest in something.

Apparently even in this short amount of time, he had missed some chunk of conversation. Because the next thing he knew, Marine and Ray (but mostly Marine) were discussing the different types of boats, and which ones were best, and which ones were better for oceans but horrible for rivers, and what kind of boats they had been on before.

Mighty was impressed that Ray was keeping up a conversation for as long as they were, but then again...a lot of what he was doing was just nodding and listening.

For a short but sweet moment, Mighty mused about how he was so proud of Ray for growing up to be such a good listener. And so respectful too, albeit a bit chatty when some circumstances came up. But Mighty was very proud of how much Ray had grown in that way since they first met.

Then he remembered that if they didn't start moving again soon, they would be out during the night, and Ray wouldn't have liked that.

"Hey, guys? Thanks for the chat and all, Captain Marine, but we've got to go off sailing again...It was nice to meet you." He automatically began to reel in the anchor that he had just put into the water, hoping that Marine wouldn't protest anymore.

"Aw, have you got to? It gets pretty lonely out here on the seven seas…" Marine said, ears drooping at the news.

"Sorry, but we need to be back before dark!" As soon as the anchor was in, the sail started to pick up, and Mighty was careful to adjust the lines so that they'd be headed the right way.

"Well, wait! If you need to get back in a jiffy, I can help!" Marine called.

"Oh...how so?" Mighty looked over at Ray and saw that, unfortunately, he was all for whatever this plan was going to be.

He must have really loved that boat.

The next thing Mighty knew, they had hoisted the sailboat up onto Marine's much larger boat, and they were heading the way that Mighty had directed. He was just hoping that this kid knew _how_ to drive a boat well. Because he had no idea how to drive a motor-driven boat at all.

Ray was basically taking in the full scale of it, and briefly asked Marine about it, although quietly.

Mighty was not particularly thrilled with riding on a boat with a new acquaintance- especially on the sort of boat that they were on. But at the same time, he pretty much understood by then that she was harmless...albeit annoying. Still, it was times like those Mighty started to consider traveling alone a better idea than bringing Ray along. There wouldn't be half as much interruption. Though he would never admit it out loud.

He lied down on the deck, hands behind his head, and tried his best to drown out the motor noises with his thoughts.

And he thought about the sun; how at times it seemed annoying as it got into his eyes, but always made up for it just by being there. How the entire world would just die in the dark and cold without it, yet no one really thought about it much. Not until it gave them a sunburn or...got in their eyes. It was tragic to think of it that way. Sort of like other things he supposed. Like how he didn't always appreciate his little traveling companion, and how sometimes he found him more annoying than anything else. He did love peaceful quiet, after all, and Ray was always a talker alone with him. But often he didn't really think about how dark and cold his world would be without the flying squirrel. Ray was, quite fittingly, a ray of sunshine in Mighty's life. And he realized he needed to think of it that way more often.

Maybe Ray had gotten them dragged onto the boat, but it was worth it to see him happy. Even if Mighty couldn't stand loud motors and even louder self-proclaimed 'captains'. At least they'd be able to get to the island before dark.

Mighty smiled up to the sky.

"...rode in a ferry. Have ya ever done that?"

"I think I did once. It was...a long time ago, I think."

Ray was standing next to the captain's quarters, though not really paying too much attention to the captain. He was looking up at the mast. "Where did you get that flag?"

"Oh, it's a big story. I took it from my pirate enemies, ya see. Yeah, big blokes they were, and they-"

The conversation faded out as Mighty thought about the contrast in their voices. It was almost funny. One of them was so loud and proud of themselves (and their really fabricated stories) and the other was barely audible from where Mighty was lying down.

He looked over at the two, and since Ray happened to look over at the same time, he smiled and nodded back at him. Ray returned the gesture, and it was surprising how much that silent exchange communicated between them.

Mighty was fine staying on the detour, if that's what Ray wanted. And Ray was thankful for the agreement, never wanting to cause too much trouble for his companion.

Mighty lied back and soaked in the sun rays.

And hoped that Marine actually knew what she was doing.


End file.
